you see more people begging-- and a different class of people begging, people who had recently been sort of somewhere at the bottom of the middle class. >> brown: stallings is trained as a classicist, reading ancient greek and latin. she did an acclaimed translation of the roman philosopher, lucretius' "the nature of things." and her own poetry has garnered several prizes. in 2011 she was the recipient of a macarthur fellowship, the so- called "genius award." her latest collection, titled "olives," explores, among other things, ancient and modern lives in her adopted home. >> there's weirdly a lot of energy in athens, and, whether it's good or bad, there's a feeling. >> brown: what kind of energy? >> maybe there's a "there's nothing left to lose" as a kind of freedom as well. people are going out to plays. they're still going out and doing things, but, you know with less money. but there's an urgency. poetry meetings are very well attended. literary events are packed. >> brown: why do you think that is? >> well, it's inexpensive, inexpensive entertainment. ( laughs ) but i think people w